


Tag, you're It.

by Kendoll



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Gore, Grumbo, Insomnia, M/M, Pills, hermitcraft au, sleepdeprived, tagyoureit, violance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:01:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25281289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kendoll/pseuds/Kendoll
Relationships: Charles | Grian &; Oli | Mumbo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	1. Prologue

_Run, run, run. Stop for a second and the end._  
_He kept running, as fast as he could, the corridor seemed to have no end. He can feel his legs giving up on him, each step sending a numb yet painful shock up his legs. His breath quickens, his body seems so light yet so heavy. He begs for an end._

_Before he knew it, it grabs him by the waist. Picking him up to face it._

_"You can't escape me, Mumbo."_

Mumbo sits up in his bed, breathing heavily. He looks around and noticed he's in his hobbit-hole, _it_ isn't real, it won't reach him. Mumbo swings his legs off the bed and stands up, his body weakens at the action, making him feel dizzy and light-headed like gravity just decided to pull on him harder. He slowly makes his way around the hobbit-hole down to his automatic pumpkin and melon farm, checking the chest to see if he gathered anything overnight. To his luck, the double chest was almost full. Mumbo grabs a stack of melons and noms on a few before going back up to get his armour, tools, and everything else. As he puts his helmet on, Mumbo looks outside the window and realizes something...odd about it. Blocks have been added to it from the outside. Mumbo makes his way outside the hobbit-hole and looks at the window. It's...Grian's face. Not only that Grian added extra wooden blocks and planks to make his hair, he even added some black stain glass to make the eyes. Mumbo chuckles at the site and reads the signs attached. "This jungle aint big enough for 2 hobbit holes", "THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!" Mumbo is amused at his friend's attempt to be a hobbit. Mumbo is already the real hobbit, the Bumbo Baggins hobbit. He already knew he had to get Grian back somehow, figured he'll think about the perfect plan while continuing on his plans for today, make the Iron farm, or at least start it.  


What seemed forever, Mumbo has gotten to a place he feels good to stop and take a break from the Iron farm and get back on Grian. He runs back home and gets what he needs: a lot of doors and 6-8 observers. Perfect prank _._ Mumbo thought to himself while pathfinding Grian's base. He creates his simple yet loud door snap and places 2 signs down. "IF YOU'RE SUCH A HOBBIT." "THEN YOU'LL LOVE THIS MOREDOOR" With laughter, he read out the signs and feels confident and slight mischief rise inside him. So this is how Grian feels when he pranks Mumbo.

Mumbo sits outside his base and fishes, something he rarely does but finds calming. He caught a lot of fishes and even got some reasonable enchantment books, even a silk touch one! Mumbo takes a deep breath and looks at the water below him and remembers his dream. That... _thing_. That creature chasing after him not allowing him to stop and grasping his waist, the touch and pain it caused felt real, too real. Mumbo shrugs it off, shoving that thought at the back of his mind. It was just a nightmare, nothing can happen to him. 

Before he realized the sun was setting, the sunset was beautiful. Mumbo rarely gets the chance to watch it in peace, he usually works on his farms or rushes home to avoid mobs spawning anywhere near him. The reds and oranges blending together claiming the surroundings, the clouds hiding some parts but this creating a breathtaking scenery. Mumbo gets a calm and warm feeling inside him, gazing at the sun disappearing behind the field. He wanted to sit by his lake and watch the full-on disappear but a skeleton didn't let him so, by shooting an arrow and just about missing him.

Mumbo heads back inside his Hobbit-hole and takes off his armour and putting them in a chest with the rest of his items. He jumps in bed and rolls around trying to get comfortable, which is ruined by a strange stinging pain around his waist. He gets out of bed and takes the top of his suit off and check if there are any marks of cuts or something. It looks like something was tightening on his skin leaving painful and stinging marks. They looked ropes were wrapped tightly around his waist without his knowledge, close to cutting his circuits; like a sword, freshly moulded from burning metal, slashed his body 5 times, yet it didn't. Mumbo was confused, why is he feeling this pain just now, more of when he got them.

Mumbo decides to sleep without his top on to ease the marks, also tried to apply wet towels on it to numb it. After a bit of time, he puts the towel outside his door to dry up and makes his way back up staring out the window.  
"Heh, I should get rid of Grian's prank. It does look nice, might keep it for a bit longer." Mumbo quietly chuckles. The thought of Grian possibly getting back at him and seeing that his first prank was still there, kinda amused and pleasant him.

He jumps back in bed and lays there, staring at the ceiling. The only thoughts he has is how to complete the Iron farm, and possibly make it look better. And the marks he doesn't know how he even got. Mumbo closes his eyes and slowly drift off to sleep.

_"You can't escape me, Mumbo."_


	2. Escapism

_"You can't escape me, Mumbo"_

_Mumbo shuffles around attempting to get out of its grasp, with each movement hurting him more and more. He can feel it's sharp nails digging deeper in his waist the more he struggles. It moves Mumbo closer to Its face, Its dark purple eyes staring right into Mumbo's soul, sending shivers down his spine._

_"You can't escape me Mumbo. You can't run anymore. You're helpless, dear Mumbo. Helpless." It spoke again, each sentence getting more sinister and distorted. Mumbo still struggles to escape kicking and punching Its hand, his heartbeat quicking and breaths following its rhythm. He can fell himself losing energy and blood in that manner like It's digging its nails deeper into Mumbo's chest and back on purpose._

_"P-Please let me go! I didn't do any-anything! Please!" Mumbo shouts with gasps between each word and stutter. It looks at him, amused._

_"Oh, I know. That's the fun part. You're innocent ." It spoke, grabbing Mumbo even tighter, stopping him from breathing altogether before dropping him on the ground and watching him gain his breath back. Mumbo's too weak and hurt to even move, all he can do is lay there gaining his breath, surrounded by his own blood, his mind is gone wild, his vision is blurry and dizzy. It keeps staring at the lost Mumbo, just staring intensely, It was smiling finding amusement in the struggling Mumbo._

_"Mumbo. Mumbo. Mum _bo!"__

__

__"Mumbo wake-up!" A soft voice shouted. Mumbo quickly sits up breathing heavily and looks around, his back at his Hobbit-Hole. Another nightmare. Great._ _

__"Mumbo are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" The voice asked. Mumbo looks at where it comes from. It's Grian, he was standing next to his moustache friend's bed then sitting down at the end of the bed, fidgeting with his fingers._ _

__"I'm fine- just-" Mumbo responds in a quiet voice, trying his best to seem calm. He rubs his eyes and looks at Grian, meeting with his worry sick blue eyes. "Yeah ... I just had a weird nightmare. Nothing to worry about." he rubs the back of his neck. The blonde boy sighs and sits back up._ _

__"If something is bothering you, you can tell me- us." Grian explains in a stutter near the end, quickly putting his helmet on to avoid any eye contact._ _

__"Sure thing ... Uhm, why are you here by the way?" Mumbo asks staring at the now awkward red sweater boy. He already had an idea of why Grian would be here._ _

__Grian panics, trying to quickly think of an excuse. "I- uh- wanted to see you- hahaha ..." He stutters, a slight tone of pink growing on his cheeks. He really just wanted to get Mumbo back, or well, work on his minecart message delivery project. "Well! It seems you're doing good- I'll head off-!" Grian explains making his way to the ladder._ _

__Mumbo chuckles and gets out of bed, a sudden feeling of stinging around his waist embraces him and sits back on the bed. Grian notices and rushes back to Mumbo, seeing the marks around his waist. Grian helps Mumbo stand up and balance on his feet. The shirtless man turns to face Grian to thank him, only meeting a concerned face staring at his chest. He looks down and notices the marks around his waist, they have gotten worse than last night. Mumbo looks back up at Grian then at his white shirt hanging at the end of the bed and quickly put it on and buttons it up. Mumbo coughs trying to regain Grian's attention away from his waist, his face light up pink from embarrassment._ _

__"Mumbo. What happened." Grian asked, or more like commanded. His face is a mix of worry and stern. Mumbo did not like that view and looked away thinking of a way to explain. Not like he could, he doesn't know what happened, how he got these marks. "Mumbo." Grian said again, more aggressively. Mumbo has no choice but to explain._ _

__"I -... It's nothing bad. Yesterday I when into the desert biome and I tripped inside a hole and maybe, maybe not hit fell onto a cactus; and on the way back to the base, I got tangled up into the vines .. "Mumbo explained himself, hoping he sounded believable. Grian stares deep into Mumbo's eyes, making his skin crawl. Grian puts on a sympathetic and calm smile, making Mumbo feel less scared._ _

__"Be more careful next time, clumsy." the blonde boy suggested in a joky tone._ _

__"Will do." Mumbo laughs and sighs in relief. He puts his tie on and jacket before walking Grian outside. They both wave at each other and Grian takes off._ _

__Mumbo watched the small red boy walk further and further away with a smile on his face, he's glad Grian gave him a visit, even if it could've been to prank him. He walks back inside and puts on his armour and takes his tools, ready for another day of work. Today he promised himself he will finish the iron farm and maybe start on something else, maybe his megabase. The moustache man makes his way back outside and stares at his window, still has Grian's face on it, at this point he thought he'll just leave it there, didn't do much of a disaster._ _

__

__Grian gets to his base and starts looking for more materials to decorate and dig the tunnel to Mumbo's base. He couldn't shake off the vision of Mumbo shirtless body full of scars and stab wounds. "Fell into a cactus, sure" Grian scuffed. He didn't believe Mumbo's excuse one bit. He was rather annoyed and upset that he lied to him, why lie about something that left marks on you? Especially that severe looking. The worried boy carried on with his project, digging all the way to Mumbo's Nether portal, trying to dig the image out of his head. He starts feeling guilty for not believing him but how can he? Having a nightmare, getting marks, and hesitating to answer. "Grian just stop thinking about it. He said it's nothing to worry about. Maybe he told the truth. It's fine."_ _

__Grian leaves the tunnel and takes off his armour and puts his items in a chest. He will just, relax. Maybe talk to his wizard neighbour Scar, stealing his wheat in secret as well. Anything to calm his mind._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp- not like I needed to show their friendship- But cmon; love dem. <3 :'3


	3. Having fun?

Grian and Mumbo haven't properly talked in weeks. Every time Grian approached Mumbo, he'd walk or fly away from him, leaving the helpless boy alone. Grian got tired and sadden by that happening every time. So he thought he'll come uninvited to his base and ask him to hang out the whole day, maybe play minigames or work on something together (not like he had any project in mind) or anything that will allow Grian to spend time with Mumbo.

Grian got himself an elytra with the help of Scar so he can easily fly to Mumbo's Base-in-between-bases? BIBB? Whatever it was called. Grian lands inside the base and looks around, he finds a hole in the middle of it with wooden entrance, he jumps in it. It's Mumbo's base and Grian could admit it looks rather cosy and nice but now he has to look for Mumbo. The base is really small and Grian couldn't find him anywhere, just as he was about to fly out Mumbo drops in with his elytra and flies right past Grian in his storage system.   
  
"Mumbo! I was looking for you!" Grian quickly speaks with a smile on his face. "How are you?" He asks, his blue eyes showing that he's begging for Mumbo to talk to him. Grian fidgets with the rockets string.   
  
"I'm fine. What do you need?" Mumbo asks while walking towards Grian, staring at his rather sadden eyes filling Mumbo with guilt.  
  
"I- Uhm, I wanted to ask if you're busy today...I was thinking maybe we could spend the day together, maybe play Scar's mining minigame or work on a project together or-" Grian gets cut off when Mumbo walks away from him and looks inside a chest. The sweater boy feels like he's a bother and prepares to fly back to his base, "I'm sorry for bothering you- I'll leave;" Grian jumps to take off but Mumbo grabs his arm.  
  
"I bet I can mine more diamonds than you." Mumbo says in a cheeky and confident tone, smiling at Grian, before flying off towards Scar's base. Grian grew a giant smile on his face and flies after Mumbo. Mumbo's base isn't that far from Scar's so they arrived rather quickly. Grian already talked to Scar if he and Mumbo can play, if Mumbo agreed.   
  
Everything was prepared for them, Scar made sure of it. The two men picked apart to start mining and ready, set, go! Mumbo and Grian start mining. Grian already found a cave and start looking around it for any open diamonds, too his luck there was a group of 4 right above the lava. He covers the lava with stone and mines the diamonds and of course, gets them in ores. Grian keeps looking around and accidentally makes eye contact with an enderman sitting down in a 2 block space, staring right into Grian's eyes but not attacking him. Grian is both scared and confused by this, it's- not how they act, at all. He slowly walks closer to the enderman with his sword out in case it attacks. It doesn't, it just stares, deep inside Grian's soul. Grian takes one more step closer and it teleports away. Grian starts feeling rather dizzy and light-headed so he sits where the enderman was, just for a few minutes so he feels better.  
  
Mumbo has been strip mining for what seems almost the whole time given and is yet to find a cave. He managed to find about 10 diamond ores. He was getting bored by this time and got lost in thought as he mindlessly keeps mining. Mumbo remembers the dreams- nightmares he's been getting because of It. Mumbo feels like he was such a fool to think It can change back into being good again like it was before. The stupid scars he got for what, snapping at it for using him? Being heard? Trying to make that dream friendship healthy? Mumbo feels anger rise in him. "That- thing- It freaking used me. It freaking used me. Scamming Iskall with Bamboos, creating Hermit Challenges, and dragging Grian and Iskall in it. The stupid button that created another civil war. It-" Mumbo stops himself and takes a breather. He punches the stone in front of him leaving a rather large crack. "Screw sleeping." Mumbo mumbled he was done. If sleeping is what allows It to interact with him, screw it. He can deal with it, he can drink coffee to keep him awake. Hey, more time to work on his projects, mobs will spawn but they can't reach him for the top of his megabase. 

The time was up and both of them come back and place their diamonds ores inside a shulker chest. Mumbo got a stack and 3 diamond ores, Grian, on the other hand, got a stack and 5 diamonds ores. Mumbo feels defeated and Grian stands there with his hand on his hips, proud of himself.

"Not so quick, we need to mine them with looting, my dear Grian." Mumbo speaks, he might have 2 fewer ores but maybe luck will be on his side. Grian quickly takes his ores and starts pilling them up, Mumbo following right after. "Mine your first two ores, last one down is a chicken." Mumbo explains. Grian mines the two ores and starts counting down.

"5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Go!" Grian yells and starts mining immediately after. Mumbo follows, and he's ahead. Or so he thought. "Done!" Grian shouts proudly. Mumbo growls and chuckles right after mining the last few ores. Mumbo walks up to Grian who placed a shulker box down with the mined diamonds, 2 stacks, and 43 diamonds. Mumbo hesitates to place his in: 2 stacks and 38 diamonds. Grian starts dancing his victory dance.

"Congratulations Grian. Good job." Mumbo scuffs clapping his hands, his tone might sound annoyed but he's smiling proudly. Grian stops dancing and stares at him smiling, Mumbo missed the boy's smile. 

"Oh and you keep the diamonds you mined, solo win-win!" Grian smiles taking his diamonds, quickly placing 10 diamonds for Mumbo. Mumbo took the diamonds from the shulker box oblivious on the fact he got more than he mined. "I don't think there are any more minigames, or that are complete. Sooooo... want to walk around and maaayybeee I get to steal more doors." Grian chuckles, he really enjoys the Hermit Challenge he got. Mumbo was surprised at that, but what can he expect, if he didn't challenge him that Grian would've thought of it himself. 

"Sure." Mumbo chuckles in his answer. 

They both start walking around and enjoying what bases the other hermits have made. Rendog's Starwars themed base, Xisuma rather futuristic honey base, Bdubs little village(?). Of course, Grian stole all their front doors and some of the other hermits. His Moredore shulker box was overflowing, he had to place them in other random shulker boxes. 

Mumbo was enjoying the time with Grian, even having to run away after they almost been caught stealing a door. The sun was about to set, the two men decided to fly on top of a jungle tree and watch the sunset together, joking and laughing about pranks and moments they spend together before the world reset itself form Season 6 to Season 7. The sky was turning a beautiful blend between the colours, without any clouds, the stars starting to be visible. Mumbo enjoyed this sunset much more than the one he saw from his started base, not sure if it's because there were no clouds or because Grian was there with him. Grian lays his head on Mumbo's shoulder, he seemed tired but kept himself awake to watch. Mumbo was surprised but rubbed the blonde's boy head with his other hand. 

Grian slowly drove off to sleep and Mumbo was close to as well, but no, he can't. A random sense of anxiety and panicking starts growing. Mumbo quickly stands up, making Grian fall and wake up. 

"Mumbo- are you okay?" Grian asks standing up and stating at panicking Mumbo. "Mumbo- breathe; slowly-" Grian slowly walks toward him. "Breathe.." Mumbo slows down his breathing and looks at Grian, his eyes tearing up.

"I'm sorry- I- sorry; I need to go-" Mumbo apologies and explains quickly. Grian walks to Mumbo and hugs him tightly. Mumbo is shocked, he doesn't know what to do.

"It's fine, please breathe, calm, everything is okay." Grian softly speaks looking up at his moustache friend with a calming smile. Mumbo looks at him calming down. "Name 5 things you can see." Grian speaks, more like asking. Mumbo's confused but he listens.

"Uhm... You, the leaves, the tree branches, the sunset, the stars."

"Name 4 things you can touch."

"Uhm, your sweater, the air, my clothes, the wood."

"Name 3 things you can hear."

"Your voice, the tickets, the owls."

"Name 2 things you can smell."

"The fresh air, a perfume? Is that from you-?" Mumbo asks in a curious tone.

"Maybe- anyway. Name 1 thing you can taste." 

"My saliva." Mumbo was confused by all of this but somehow he got much calmer.

"That was a short exercise, to make you realise, you're here in the present and you shouldn't worry about anything in the future or past." Grian speaks again softly. "Maybe we should head back to our bases, I'll take you to yours. Okay?" Mumbo nods and they both take off. Mumbo is so thankful to have someone like Grian in his life. 

They arrive at Mumbo's base, Grian waves goodbye and takes off. Mumbo watches until he can't be seen anymore and walks in his hobbit-hole, he really needs to move his bed in the new base. Mumbo sighs and places his armour and items away in a chest and jumps in bed. He was really tired, as much as he wanted too stay awake and avoid It, he really couldn't. He needed to at least have one more night to prepare. Tomorrow he will get everything he needs. 

Mumbo lays in bed and stares at the ceiling. Replaying the scene of Grian helping him calm down over and over again, a smile grew on his face as he slowly drove off to sleep.

_"Kill him."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D Life's pain sometimes. Anxiety is fun. Lol Mumbo needs a hug. or 2.


	4. Keep away...

_"Kill him."_

_"Wha-What? Who?" Mumbo asks, in confusion and fear. It stares at him with disappointment._

"Why who? Grian." It sarcastically replies. "Just kill him, easy peasy." It makes itself into a shadowy human, it wearing a black shirt with black metal things attached on the side of its torso. It's got fur around the collar. It arms and legs are floating around the torso, acting like they are attached but they aren't. It also got a cat mask with a permanent smile on it. It walks towards Mumbo, it's taller than him. "You can do that right?"

_"No! I'm not going to kill him. You can't tell me what to do anymore!" Mumbo shouts at its face. He backs away after realizing what he said. It starts laughing._

_"No? No. Hahaha! That's so silly! You think I'll take that?" It stares at Mumbo with a smirk. "Oh Mumbo. You can't escape death you know that. Just deal with it and bring it to the hermits sooner." It speaks appearing behind Mumbo with his arm resting on his shoulder around his neck, putting him into a headlock as a_ **_buddy_ ** _would. "You would be doing everyone a favour! Death is not even bad! No one to bother you, nothing that can kill you. You're already dead!" It seems all hyper and excited about this subject. A worrying amount of excitement._

_"Y-you're mad." Mumbo speaks in a shaky tone. Notch, he can feel his skin crawling, and his heart racing, he should've stayed awake. He really should've._

_"Why of course I'm_ **_mad_ ** _! Why wouldn't I be?" It laughs, it seemed like it was joking when it said that, but some anger was felt from those words. "Now listen here, Redstone boy. Why not set up a trap? Or set up an explosion at Grian's base! You could use the messaging system he made for you, that you never use anymore, rig it and-BOOM! He's dead." It gets even more excited about this idea. "Aw, poor Grian! He'll think you send him a message, something after all this time. But nope! It's a trap to kill him!" It chuckles, pulling Mumbo closer to itself, cheeks almost touching. "If Grian lived through that he'll be soooooo hurt! It's almost too great!"_

_"What- No! That's- that's just cruel!" Mumbo pushes himself away from It. He's getting fed up and starts shouting. "Just stop! Stop trying! I had enough of you controlling me, telling me what to do. I'm tired! I freaking hate you! Why are you like this? Why can't you be nice and friendly like before?!" Mumbo looks like he's about to punch It's face if he wasn't so scared. He quickly covers his mouth and backs away, noticing It's face going from happy to angry, it's purple eyes staring right into Mumbo's soul._

_It clutches his fists and walks up to Mumbo. It stops just 1 step away from him, staring. Mumbo's skin crawl and his legs weaken. It breaks out into laughter._

_"You- you think that was real? Oh my Notch! You're so funny!" It chuckles. It starts crying from laughter and it wipes its eyes. Slowly calming itself, looks at Mumbo who feels betrayed, broken, who feels like a fool. "Aw, don't be so sad. I'm not the only one." It smiles, then it faces goes angry and dull. "You know. It will be more interesting if you asked who else. I guess you're too hurt. You, mortals, are so boring sometimes." It snaps its fingers and black slime flows from the ground under Mumbo's feet, slowly making it's way up. "Now listen clearly, once you speak to that boy, you will kill him. With or without your will. Sleeping is the only way you can talk to me, but not the only way for me to use you." It looks at the slime. "As long as that keeps you in place. You will lose most of your control. If it covers you whole...well..."It stops and smiles widely "Your body is fully under my control!" It says with a huge grin glued on its face._

_Mumbo panics and tries to move his legs to get away from the smile, but he's stuck, glued on the ground. What has he got himself into..._

Grian started working on his mansion as soon as the sun was seen, and he was really proud of what he achieved so far. After placing the last few blocks he had, he flies to his hobbit-hole to see if he has any more blocks scattered around. He bumps into Iskall who seems rather confused and lost.

"Oh Hey Iskall, need anything?" Grian asks in a confused tone.

"Ah! Oh Hello Grian! I was looking for you actually." Iskall's voice is a little weak, he looks like he hardly had any sleep. 

"Oh. What's up?" Grian's worried and really wants to ask if he's okay but first, he shall hear what the Swedish man has to say.

"Is Mumbo okay? You two hardly talked, he's been avoiding all of us recently..." Iskall stops and breathes before he lets his worries and anxiety get a hold of him. "I'm just worried about him." 

"He's good. I spend the whole day with him yesterday, he did get an anxiety attack though;" 

"You sure...?" 

"Yes. We can go to his base and check up on him if you want. I just finished my last stacks for the mansion." Grian suggests putting some useless items away in a random chest. Iskall nods and they both take off to Mumbo's base.

Mumbo was working on his base. His mind was just full of what It told him, and he hates it. Why can't he just forget about it as he did before? He doesn't want to kill Grian or any of the Hermits! Mumbo jumps down of the top of his megabase, he slides down and takes a look at it. A smile grows on his face. "This starting to look great." Mumbo took off, flying back on top and carried on when Iskall shouted for him.

"Mumbo!" Iskall flew past Mumbo and waves his hand. He lands and Mumbo lands next to him.

"What's up? Up for another Hermit Challenge?" Mumbo chuckles, crossing his arms.

"Oh, no, no, no. Not yet. Just wanted to check up on ya, and say what an amazing base-of Doom you have."

"Oh thank you! You got an amazing- giant tree-" Mumbo looks in the distance and can see the top of Iskall's Mega tree base.

"Omega-mega-tree-of-doom." The Swedish man correct Mumbo.

Grian lands behind Mumbo and slowly sneaks closer to the clueless moustache man. Iskall notices but keeps Mumbo distracted by coming up with a conversation starter.

"So how's your industrial district going?" Iskall asks out of nowhere.

"Oh. Well, not that bad really. It's getting there-" Mumbo replies before getting cut off.

"BOO!" Grian jumps next to Mumbo, he startled and stepped back, it's just Grian. It's **Grian**. "How are you?" The sweater boy waved with a big smile.

"Sorry Iskall, I have to get back to work." Mumbo quickly rushes his words and flies away from the duo. Grian's smile fades as he watched Mumbo disappear on top of his megabase. 

"Grian are you oka-" Iskall got cut off by Grian flying up to where Mumbo went. Iskall sighs deep. "These two." He flies up after Mumbo and Grian.

Mumbo is sitting on top of his base, breathing slowly. Why Grian, just- why? Mumbo's mind is all over the place. He gets up and checks to see if they have left, only to meet an annoyed and worried small boy. Grian...just leave, please...

"Mumbo, are you okay?" Grian asks walking closer to Mumbo. Mumbo can't talk to him- He can't be near him. "Mumbo, what happened? Please talk to me..." Grian's expression changes, to a hurt, broken little boy. Mumbo can't look at him any longer, he'll break. "Mumbo...?" His voice weakens and breaks. They both stand there for a minute, Grian breaks the silence. "Did I do something?" Grian asks..."Why are you ignoring me again?" He asks..."Mumbo, what did I do?" the boy asks... Grian smiles. He feels silly and dumb for being upset. "O-okay. I-I'll leave. Sorry for bothering you." His blue eyes tearing up as he jumps off and flies away. Iskall just got up there and lands not soon after Grian flew away.

"Is Grian crying-?" Iskall asks, worried and confused. "Mumbo? Are you okay?"

"Please go check up on Grian...I'm- I'm too busy right now." Mumbo tells Iskall before jumping off and flying away from the base.

Iskall stares at Mumbo flying away then turns around at the direction Grian flew. He sighs again. "What angst story is this. SOMEONE, PLEASE EXPLAIN!" He rubs his nose bridge before taking off to find Grian. "I need to talk to Xisuma...this is getting out of hand."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I- I'm sorry ;-; idk what it's happening anymore. WELP


	5. Xisuma, I need help.

Iskall stopped at Grian's nether portal and went through it. He decided that it was better to talk to Xisuma first to hopefully gain some basic information. Maybe they could put stuff together and come to a conclusion of what was going on. When he reaches Xisuma's portal he was welcomed by a bee man just landing on the platform.

"Oh Hello Iskall!" The bee boy waved his hand, even though he had a helmet on, Iskall could tell he was smiling.

"Hey, Xisuma." Iskall did a small wave back. "Xisuma, I need your help. Can you access our 'Player File'?" He went straight to the point with no hesitation, no second thought. This was important and he did not want to waste time. Xisuma was surprised about this question and hesitated for a second.

"Sure... Why though?" 

"I want you to check Mumbo's Files."

Xisuma instantly stopped himself and looked at Iskall with disappointment. Iskall sighed and started to explain himself in a bit of a rush.

"We know Mumbo has been avoiding us recently. All of us even Grian. Yesterday he and Grian spend the whole day together. From what Grian told me everything was fine but Mumbo did get an anxiety attack? Today I and Grian when to visit him but he seemed to try and avoid Grian, and flew away. When I caught up with them Grian flew away crying and Mumbo told me to check up on him, which I didn't (obviously), then flew away the opposite direction. He seemed to be really tired and upset and rushed and- and-" Iskall stops and breathes.

"I-Iskall you good?" Xisuma asks while placing his hand on Iskall's shoulder, worrying about his Swedish friend getting a stroke. "Breathe and say it slowly..."

Iskall breathes in and out for a few seconds and starts talking. "Mumbo had an anxiety attack yesterday while hanging out with Grian. Today he avoided him. Something happened that made Grian cry and Mumbo upset. I don't know what happened. I'm- I'm just really worried there's something going on that neither of them wants to talk about."

"There are some things people like to keep private, Iskall, not everyone is open," Xisuma explained in a calm tone as he stepped back, raising his arm and pressed the buttons on his arm. A bluish-green screen popped up - almost like a hologram but still has the ability to whack someone over the head if needed - and he scrolled through some files.

Iskall could see what it was, just flipped - it was the 'Player files'. _Is Xisuma really going to check Mumbo's files?_ Iskall thought but didn't say anything. "I won't look into a lot, but I have already realized that Mumbo hasn't been sleeping properly lately or sleeping at all I guess." 

The helmet man scrolled through a little more then pressed on the 'Mumbo File' and reads around quickly. "Ah, here. It seems Mumbo has been sleeping way less recently. 2-3 hours on average-" Xisuma's stomach drops. _Mumbo losing that much sleep?_

"That little-?" Iskall questioned grabbing his rockets, "I need to talk to him." As Iskall was about to take off, Xisuma grabbed his hand. He turns around to a tensed, worried and concerned face behind the helmet. 

"Iskall don't- Not today at least-" Xisuma spoke in a worried tone, staring at Iskall with begging eyes. Iskall sighed, doing a 180 turn to face Xisuma and nodded in agreement. Even though it can't be seen, the bee man smiled relaxing his shoulders.

"So...uhm...are you going to let go of my hand...?" Iskall puffed, slight pink showing on his face.

Xisuma stared confused at the Swedish man before realizing what he was doing and quickly let go, blushing like mad from embarrassment. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, avoiding eye contact. "Sorry- I forgot-"

"It's fine, man," Iskall laughs. "I will go work on my Omega-Mega-Tree-Of-Doom." He chuckled his words out. 

"Promise me you won't talk to Mumbo." 

"I promise on all the shulker boxes full of oak wood I own," Iskall smiled and took off.

"If you say so." Xisuma waved, watching Iskall fly away. Once Iskall can't be seen any more the bee man resume back to his plan of the day. 

It's been a few days since Iskall reached out to Xisuma. Xisuma had been checking Mumbo's sleeping pattern every now and then, they were not getting any better. It was going to the point Mumbo would go through days back to back with no sleeping breaks. Having enough of this (and also being the worried father-friend), Xisuma took off and headed to Iskall base, hoping he'd be there. 

"Iskall please be working on your tree- Oh thank you!" Xisuma lands behind Iskall who was working on one of the branches. "Iskall!"

Iskall jumped, almost falling off to his doom but balanced himself just before it was too late. He turned around and gave Xisuma a confused and annoyed look. "Xisuma? What's up?"

"Can we go check up on Mumbo? He hasn't been sleeping at all-" 

"I- sure." Iskall places the last oak wood down and takes off towards Mumbo's base. Xisuma following behind. They land and walk towards the, what they assumed was the entrance, and look for the moustache man. 

"Where could he be?" Xisuma asks, his voice was annoyed and worried. Iskall kept looking and spotted something popping out of the hole on the floor. It's Grian? Why is he here? Iskall runs to check if he ain't seeing things. 

"Grian?" Iskall asks, the blonde boy looks up and awkwardly smiles. He gets out of the hole and stands up. 

"Hey, Iskall-!" Grian waves awkwardly. He was clearly panicking like he didn't want to be seen. "What are you doing here?" Grian asked.

"I and Xisuma wanted to check up on Mumbo, he hasn't been sleeping at all recently. Why are you here?"

"Uhm- same reason as you. I- uhm. Well, Mumbo isn't here so you might wanna check his industrial district." 

Iskall stares at the sweater boy. Grian feels more and more uncomfortable and panicked. He took some rockets out and took off without any warning. Iskall watched him fly off in the distance. _Something's not right here_ , Iskall thought to himself. He shrugged it off for now and focused on finding Mumbo. 

_That was a close call..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This- took me too long. I wasn't proud of it when I first finished it, but thanks to my friend. I think its much better now.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! :)
> 
> It will be back~


	6. I'll help you.

Grian flew away crying, aimlessly. He didn't plan to go anywhere specific. He will fly until he has no more rockets or his elytra is about to break. His vision was getting blurrier and the pain in his chest growing stronger per second.

Grian lands in the middle of nowhere and sits on the ground, staring at the field of greenery void. _Why does it hurt this much?_ Grian thought, hugging himself, his vision getting blurrier and prickly. The blonde boy felt his cheeks warming up from the salty waters, falling from his eyes. He stayed there for what seems like ages before dozing off to a deep slumber. 

_"Hello."_

_"Who are you-?" Grian stands up and backs away, looking everywhere. He's in pitch dark, he can see everything but nothing._

_"One of Mumbo's friends." the voice speaks._

_"Oh..."_

_"Grian, don't be upset. Mumbo doesn't hate you. He despises you. Rather annoyed with you really."_

_"What...He-"_

_"Aw, you poor unfortunate soul. It's okay though. I'll help you get back at him. For using you and playing with your emotions like you're his little puppet. All I need is....taking control of your body."_

_"What...That- No." Grian hugs himself looking around his surroundings, trying to find whoever is speaking._

_"You're making this more difficult." It spoke again, more disappointed. "I'm giving you another chance to agree."_

_Grian looks down and shakes his head holding himself tighter, digging his nails into his arms. His heart starts beating faster and breathing becomes more difficult like he's suffering on air._

_"Times ticking. Will you make this easier for yourself or not?"_

_"Can I see you?" Grian asks looking up at nothing, relaxing his body._

_"Why should I do that?"_

_"Wouldn't it make more sense of me accepting this if I see who I'm talking too?"_

_"Yeah, okay that makes sense." the voice spoke. Not long after a shadowy human with a bird mask walked out the shadow, it's tall and wearing a suit with a long back, like it's a birds tail. "Hello Grian."_

_Grian stares at the figure with wide eyes, he shakes his head and puts on a serious expression. "Okay, Pesky bird. Why do you want to do this in the first place?"_

_It stares at Grian before face-palming and sighing. It looks back up at Grain and speaks. "Why, because I want to help you, of course. Help you gain revenge on everything Mumbo has done to you." It walks towards the blue-eyed boy and stretching his hand out. "Accept it. It will give no harm."_

_"Heh. No harm?" Grian looks up at it and cheeky smiles. "Mumbo won't be hurt, right?"_

_"Well... I can't promise-"_

_"No."_

_"What?" It looks at Grian and tilts it's head on the side, in an annoying way._

_"I don't need your help. Now please go away."_

_It frowns and grabs Grian by his sweater, picking him up to face it. "I am not leaving. Your mind is weak. You can't stop me. This could've been easier and more pleasant for you... I guess not." It snaps its fingers and black slime grabs Grian by the feet. It throws him on the ground, black slime growing around him getting him stuck on the ground. "I'm in control of your body now!" It turns around and slowly walks away "Time to get rid of that useless 'Redstone' boy."_

_Grian tries to fight the slime and get up, failing every time._

"Grian?"

Grian snaps his head up, breathing quickly. A rough hand is placed on his shoulder. Grian looks up to see who it is.

"You okay?" Tango asks in a soft tone. The red-eyed boy tilted his head and had a worried expression drawn all over his face. Grian nods wiping the burning tears away from his eyes. Tango puts his hand out and helps the small boy stand up then scruffs up his hair. "Hey, put on a smile. Everything is okay." Tango smiles, not exactly sure on what to say but still tried to stay positive in front of the petite boy.

Grian smiles, then lets out a quick quiet laugh. " Thanks, Tango." 

"Anytime buddy." Tango notices Grian's broken elytra. " Your elytra is messed up. Want to borrow mine while you go to fix it?" Tango asked, taking his glowing elytra off and offers it to Grian. The boy stares at the pair of 'wings' for a second or two, hesitant to the offer but eventually, very slowly, taking it from Tango and putting it on. "Just leave it in a chest in front of my - wonderingvillagerheadcollection." He coughs out the last part. " I will get back to work now. My portal is nearby feel free to use it. Cheer up my buddy!" Tango waves as he walks away and runs off, slightly regretting giving his elytra away but shrugged the feeling off quite quickly.

Grian takes off and head to the portal. He flies towards to Mumbo's portal and headed inside. He quickly jumps inside the hole and starts looking around before hearing voices from the outside. Grian panics and jumps out...  
  
 _That was a close call..._  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh. Yeah......

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it- I srsly tried-. I originally wrote this on Wattpad. I will carry one there. So uh yeah. Just casually copy-pasting.


End file.
